Southland gas prices falling; drivers say it's still not low enough

Just how far the region's gasoline prices have dropped from the sudden, scary peak of nearly three weeks ago could be seen Wednesday at an unbranded station in Calabasas.

Attracting unwanted national attention during the spike, Low-P on Calabasas Road had been charging $5.79 for regular unleaded - and customers were still buying.

On Wednesday, the station was charging $3.999 - about a 30 percent drop.

Similar sharp declines have been seen throughout the region, particularly at unbranded stations, including Costco, that were most affected by the spot market shortages in early October.

Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at market tracker GasBuddy.com, said more price relief is on the way.

"It's moving pretty good right now," he said of the daily price drops. "That's a pretty substantial decline for any market. You could say we're making up for lost time."

DeHaan said regular in the region should be averaging under $4 a gallon by Thanksgiving - just in time for holiday travel.

That's good news for people like Luther Smith. The Bellflower resident owns Luther's Mobile Car Wash and puts about $20 in the tank twice a day. He's logged 345,000 miles on his 2004 spotless Chevy Blazer and was delighted to finally see a 3 as the first digit on the Low-P sign.

He paid 45 cents a gallon more getting gas near his home on Tuesday morning.

"Oh man, it killed me," Smith said of having to pay as much as $4.79 as prices peaked the second week of the month. "I was paying about $60 a day."

Smith has no choice. His clients live in Calabasas and Beverly Hills and he works seven days a week.

Low-P was one of 15 stations in the Los Angeles area under $4 a gallon Wednesday afternoon. The lowest price was $3.89 at a Valero station in Compton, according to LosAngelesGasPrices.com.

That's a real bargain, too, as the National Automobile Club Daily Fuel Gauge Report had regular averaging $4.40 a gallon Wednesday in Los Angeles, down 4cents from Tuesday.

Prices in the Los Angeles-Long Beach metro area are now 30 cents under the record high of $4.705 set on Oct. 9.

In the Riverside-San Bernardino area the price of regular fell 5 cents overnight to $4.37 a gallon. That's 32 cents under the record high of $4.688 set on Oct. 8, according to the auto club.

The sudden price spike earlier this month was blamed on a shortage of fuel caused by a power problem at the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance and ongoing repairs to a Chevron refinery in Richmond damaged in a fire this summer.

The soaring prices prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to order an early switchover to the winter-blend fuel to boost supplies.

At some stations like Low-P, customers have to pay cash to get the cheapest price. Fuel bought with a debit or credit card cost 10 cents more.

Her wholesale price jumped almost $10,000 per tank load earlier in the month.

"It must be the winter blend for the prices to have dropped as much as this," she said. At one point she had to price regular at $5.79 a gallon and premium at $5.99.

"Thank God, everybody is coming back," Barklhordar said of her customers.

Ronee Pena of Running Springs has been conservative about how many trips he takes out of the San Bernardino Mountains, but the dip in gas prices motivated him to come down the hill for a doctor's appointment Wednesday.

"The prices went down, so now is the time to take care of business," he said.

He fueled up his Chevy HHR at the Arco am/pm mini mart on Base Line in Highland, where prices Wednesday were $4.15 a gallon for regular fuel.

"I think it's great," he said. "But I don't think it's low enough."

Janelle Poole and her husband bought gas for their Honda CRV at the 76 station, also on Base Line, where the price was $4.39 for regular gas.

"Certain things I try to be frugal with, but gas, I just kind of accept it," the Lake Arrowhead woman said.

Auto Club spokesman Jeffrey Spring said that wholesale prices began falling shortly after Brown authorized the switch over to the winter fuel supply.

Wholesale prices took big a drop on Tuesday, with regular falling to $2.73 a gallon from $4.25 on Monday, he said. On Wednesday it fell 5 cents to $2.68 a gallon.

"It's sort of bittersweet news. It's trending down," Spring said of wholesale and retail prices. "This is the trend we should have been seeing in September and October anyway."

Analyst DeHaan said another factor helping drive down prices is that demand is weakening as it always does this time of year.

"There is limited upside potential for prices so a lot of the speculators are getting out of the market," DeHaan said.

"It was horrible," he said of the high prices. "It was cutting my profit by about 15 percent. It's about time they fell."

Despite a more than 25 cent drop in gas prices in areas of the Inland Empire, many motorists say they are still being cautious when it comes to spending money at the gas pump.

"I don't drive as much, and I cut out long trips," said John Ensor of Bakersfield on Wednesday afternoon as he fueled up at the Mobil station on Vineyard Avenue just south of the 10 Freeway in Ontario. "I had to cut out a trip to see my parents."

Ensor is not alone as other drivers say they have felt some relief at the pumps but worry prices can quickly take an upward turn.

"It's still a little iffy," said Saul Villacorta, 30, of El Monte. "Prices are still not low enough."

Tamika Greene, an employee at the Ontario Mobil, said she hasn't seen a major drop in customers since prices reached their peak of $4.68 about a week and a half ago, but she did notice people waiting to fill up.

"Sometimes they would wait for paydays to get a lot of gas, but in between they get just a little (to get them through the week,)" she said.

She has noticed those who had previously bypassed the station for economy gasoline starting to return.

"Sometimes they will ask for $2 just to get them to the Arco station where it's cheaper, but then they come back and say the cheaper gas messed up their system," Greene said.